Woodhouse's Toad

Description:

Woodhouse's Toads grow 2 to 5 inches long, with a thick head, rounded snout and wide waist (looks like a hockey puck). Hind legs are short. Body color is grayish- or yellowish-brown with a prominent white stripe down the back. Woodhouse's have warty skins, horizontal pupils, large neck glands (also called the parotoid gland), lack upper row of teeth and have prominent bony ridges just behind their eyes.

Habitat:

I found this toad while hiking on Horsetooth Falls Trail. It was sitting on a rock on the edge of the cliff area in the sun.

Notes:

The glands and warts produce a poison -- bufotalin, bufonin or bufogin-- that makes the toad bad to eat. They won't give you warts! Predators are raccoons, skunks, snakes, herons and fish (eat the tadpoles).